Today in my morning class, made up of five women all 50+ years of age, we talked about discrimination. It was an interesting discussion. I taught them about the civil war and the discrimination between blacks & whites. They were all very interested to learn such a thing about a country that is now so culturally diverse.
Then I asked them if there was ever discrimination in Japan? They couldn't think of any. I was surprised because, I believe, discrimination is all over Japan. Though it may not be as obvious as what we knew of America, but it's definitely here. I, myself, have gotten the looks and even been asked "Why am I here?", and not in the "I'm just curious" way. Plus, there is the discrimination for Koreans and Chinese. Let's be honest, none of them like each other. In fact, one of my students told a story about when she was in China and some angry Chinese woman asked the friend they were with, who was also Chinese, why she was helping a couple of Japanese people.
Discrimination is everywhere! I just want to help open my students' eyes to the topic and make sure they recognize it and don't do it themselves. Very enlightening!
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